DACC students say they earned A's for picking up trash

LAS CRUCES >> Several current and former Doña Ana Community College students said they earned credit — and "A" grades — for picking up trash and doing other community service for a few hours a semester in a respiratory therapy special topics course.

Offering college credit for community service is not uncommon, but it usually comes with a requirement or 20 to 40 hours for one credit and sometimes as only a pass/fail course.

El Paso Community College, for example, offers students academic credit for 20 hours of community service after they attend an orientation session.

The DACC respiratory therapy students and graduates say they earned "A" grades, which count toward their GPAs, and up to four credits per semester for a few hours of community service work, calling the course "the joke class."

"You just go pick up your trash for two hours and you're done," a current student said.

Respiratory therapists aid people with breathing problems and must pass a licensing test.

The Sun-News spoke with six current and former respiratory therapy students who said they all had the same experience. All but one requested anonymity for fear of retaliation in what they call the small world of respiratory therapy.

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Some said they had reached out to DACC and New Mexico State University administrators about their concerns with the class, which DACC spokesman Eddie Binder confirmed.

Binder said DACC will make sure "classes are academically sound in all programs."

"Even though this is not part of the core competencies for respiratory therapy, it is important to make sure students get the most out of it academically," he said in an email. "The faculty and administration will work together to make sure the class meets the academic needs of the students."

Only 10 to 11 respiratory therapy credits are offered each semester, according to the program curriculum, so the students all said they took the special topics course to maintain the full-time 12 credit hours required for federal financial aid.

The 100-level "Special Topics" course in the respiratory therapy program can be retaken for up to a total of 10 credits, according to DACC's 2013-2014 course catalog.

The sole prerequisite is admission to the respiratory therapy program, according to the catalogue. The course description says "topics to be announced in Schedule of Courses," which says nothing further about topics or requirements.

Most of the students the Sun-News spoke with are recent graduates, but one was a 2003 graduate who said the course was the same even when she was in school.

"At the time, I didn't even think about it because, hey, it's an easy A," she said. "... But, obviously, it's not OK. You're paying the college for an A."

The current student said the class never met last semester. The instructor would stop by the students' lecture class to tell them which activities could count for credit.

The student recalled earning two college credits for five hours of community service.

Arbogast, who has since transferred to New Mexico State University to study genetics after her experience in the program, said she once earned credit for stamping participants' entrance cards at a Hogs for Hospice event.

A DACC student said people in the "real world" laugh when they learned the students receive college credit for a few hours of community service.

"I've never been to school before, so I thought that's what it was," the student said.

One 2012 graduate who took the class expected to be asked to research a topic and write a paper. Instead, the graduate said students picked up trash at the Mesquite Cemetery or volunteered at local charity walks for a few hours in exchange for credit.

"I would've rather been studying than picking up trash," the graduate said.

One or two community service opportunities were related to the students' coursework, graduates said.

In one, the students traveled to Alamogordo to talk with members of a Huff and Puff club, who have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, a common lung disease. Students spoke to the group on an assigned topic.

In another, students volunteered at a children's fair at NMSU using pigs' lungs to demonstrate respiration.

But that type of community service was a rarity, the graduates said.

The students said they would have preferred writing a research paper, doing field work or other work related to their courses.

"Something needs to be done," the 2012 graduate said.

There are signs the course has changed.

It has a syllabus this spring, something the student who took the class last semester said didn't exist. It specifies that "class attendance plus community service" are the methods of evaluation.

To earn one credit hour, students must earn 15 points through class meetings (1 point), student government association general meetings (1 point), club meetings (1 point), health or ribbon walks (5 or 10 points), Huff and Puff meetings (5 points, 10 points for a presentation), two health fairs or two presentations.

The syllabus says the class meets for an hour on Mondays and covers critical thinking "to prepare and develop a new kind of respiratory therapist who can function effectively in current and future health care delivery systems." The syllabus says the field also requires "teamwork, communication, collaborative problem solving ... and community service."

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